Yesterday, I stopped at the West Marine store near Portsmouth, NH.

I must report, it was pitiful. There were two employees, one was the check
out
girl/lady.

Hardly had any paint, or paint products such as primer.

Since I've been to the store a number of times, I asked the second employee,
a man,
what was new. I mentioned that I heard on the business page report that
West had a
new CEO who was determined to turn the stores around. The employee told me
the whole chain was getting a big time shake up, he didn't say exactly what
was going to
happen, but he seemed to think that things were going to get better.

Is it about time.

I drive all the way to Portland, Maine just to shop at Hamiltons because
West is so bad.

And I'm talking simple stuff like Paint.

Here is one example..

I need some Interlux solvent wash .. West has it for about $22 dollars.
Hamilton ?? $16.50

You would at think ?? Why get undercut by a marine store with only four or
five outlets in one state .. ??

I hope the new CEO reads this newsgroup..

ps... if you are looking for a job?? West in Portsmouth has a sign on its
front door,, looking for help.

On Feb 25, 7:45*am, "Sir Thomas of Cannondale"
wrote:
Yesterday, I stopped at the West Marine store near Portsmouth, NH.

I must report, it was pitiful. *There were two employees, one was the check
out
girl/lady.

Hardly had any paint, or paint products such as primer.

Since I've been to the store a number of times, I asked the second employee,
a man,
what was new. *I mentioned that I heard on the business page report that
West had a
new CEO who was determined to turn the stores around. *The employee told me
the whole chain was getting a big time shake up, he didn't say exactly what
was going to
happen, but he seemed to think that things were going to get better.

Is it about time.

I drive all the way to Portland, Maine just to shop at Hamiltons because
West is so bad.

And I'm talking simple stuff like Paint.

Here is one example..

I need some Interlux solvent wash .. West has it for about $22 dollars.
Hamilton ?? *$16.50

You would at think ?? *Why get undercut by a marine store with only four or
five outlets in one state .. ??

I hope the new CEO reads this newsgroup..

ps... if you are looking for a job?? *West in Portsmouth has a sign on its
front door,, looking for help.

Your right, they just have no stock, and they are expensive, why would
you bother to go there?

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:26:29 -0800 (PST), Capt John
wrote:

On Feb 25, 7:45 am, "Sir Thomas of Cannondale"
wrote:
Yesterday, I stopped at the West Marine store near Portsmouth, NH.

I must report, it was pitiful. There were two employees, one was the
check
out
girl/lady.

Hardly had any paint, or paint products such as primer.

Since I've been to the store a number of times, I asked the second
employee,
a man,
what was new. I mentioned that I heard on the business page report that
West had a
new CEO who was determined to turn the stores around. The employee told
me
the whole chain was getting a big time shake up, he didn't say exactly
what
was going to
happen, but he seemed to think that things were going to get better.

Is it about time.

I drive all the way to Portland, Maine just to shop at Hamiltons because
West is so bad.

And I'm talking simple stuff like Paint.

Here is one example..

I need some Interlux solvent wash .. West has it for about $22 dollars.
Hamilton ?? $16.50

You would at think ?? Why get undercut by a marine store with only four
or
five outlets in one state .. ??

I hope the new CEO reads this newsgroup..

ps... if you are looking for a job?? West in Portsmouth has a sign on
its
front door,, looking for help.

Your right, they just have no stock, and they are expensive, why would
you bother to go there?

I've been to probably 10 different West Marine stores in various
locales. They were all distinct, and had different proportions of
types of goods. Some were more powerboat, some were more sailboat,
some were more hardware, some were more clothes and kayaks, some had
more electronics, and so on.

I'm guessing that each local manager adjusts his own store to whatever
product mix he thinks the local market wants.

In cold climates, you also have to consider that the winters are
relatively dead and so they probably lower stock levels.


I've been to at least that many. I even worked at one for a while so I could
get the employee discount, which is a significant benefit. You don't have to
guess, that's exactly what the managers do wrt product mix. Others are
better at doing this, and the stores around here have a mix of reputations
for service/parts/knowledge or lack there of. The hours of operation also
vary from the useful to the practically useless.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

In article ,
"Capt. JG" wrote:

I've been to at least that many. I even worked at one for a while so I could
get the employee discount, which is a significant benefit. You don't have to
guess, that's exactly what the managers do wrt product mix. Others are
better at doing this, and the stores around here have a mix of reputations
for service/parts/knowledge or lack there of. The hours of operation also
vary from the useful to the practically useless.

The other thing to consider is when you have a mechanical problem en
route. You dock, then either look in yellow pages or find out where the
nearest WM is. As most medium to large towns on the shoreline have them,
it's good to know that there is a supplier regardless of the price.

--
Molesworth

"Molesworth" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Capt. JG" wrote:

I've been to at least that many. I even worked at one for a while so I
could
get the employee discount, which is a significant benefit. You don't have
to
guess, that's exactly what the managers do wrt product mix. Others are
better at doing this, and the stores around here have a mix of
reputations
for service/parts/knowledge or lack there of. The hours of operation also
vary from the useful to the practically useless.

The other thing to consider is when you have a mechanical problem en
route. You dock, then either look in yellow pages or find out where the
nearest WM is. As most medium to large towns on the shoreline have them,
it's good to know that there is a supplier regardless of the price.

--
Molesworth


Yeah, I don't usually shop for the best price if my bilge is full of water
and the pump isn't working. :-)


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Sir Thomas of Cannondale wrote:
Yesterday, I stopped at the West Marine store near Portsmouth, NH.

I must report, it was pitiful.

Lack of competition in most markets. If you think this is bad, wait
until the democraps get into office and remove competition from your
medical care.

"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
. ..
Sir Thomas of Cannondale wrote:
Yesterday, I stopped at the West Marine store near Portsmouth, NH.

I must report, it was pitiful.

Lack of competition in most markets. If you think this is bad, wait until
the democraps get into office and remove competition from your medical
care.


Please feel free to point to specific references about this... just as I
suspected, you can't. Perhaps you should vote for Huckabee.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:25:43 -0800, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
m...
Sir Thomas of Cannondale wrote:
Yesterday, I stopped at the West Marine store near Portsmouth, NH.

I must report, it was pitiful.

Lack of competition in most markets. If you think this is bad, wait
until
the democraps get into office and remove competition from your medical
care.


Please feel free to point to specific references about this... just as I
suspected, you can't. Perhaps you should vote for Huckabee.

I assume you are responding to the unfounded political baloney, but it
should be pointed out that West Marine faces a lot of strong local
competition in many markets. In my area, they even compete against
other West Marine stores. If anyone thinks WM store managers aren't
extremely focused on beating the performance of other WM stores, think
again. Cassel was completely wrong about that, too.




They do face a lot of competition in some markets... others none or minimal.
I know the second part to be true, because at one point I was considering
working at a different store, and the first series of questions was about
the current store manager and his practices.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On 25 Feb 2008 12:56:01 -0600, Dave wrote:

Where is Goldberg's when you need it? g

My recollection is that Goldberg's was bought out by E & B, who were
then bought out by Boat US, who were then bought out by our heros at
West Marine.

Does anyone remember the name of that great chandlery that used to be
on Chambers Street in lower Manhattan back in the 70s.

On 29 Feb 2008 10:47:02 -0600, Dave wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:03:34 -0500, Wayne.B
said:

Does anyone remember the name of that great chandlery that used to be
on Chambers Street in lower Manhattan back in the 70s.

I believe it was Manhattan Marine. Their prices were a bit higher than
Goldberg's on most items, but they did carry a lot of items.

Yes, it was a great place with a huge inventory of obscure deck
hardware items and a great catalog. It was also a close walk from my
old office on Wall Street. Just by coincidence I happened to stop by
one day on their last day of business. It was like accidently walking
into a wake.